Rugby has grounds to be pleased as the sport bids to spread its wings in the 2015 World Cup

A Rugby World Cup is a national event, rather than just one for people who
look like Gareth Chilcott, so the decision to spread the 2015 tournament to
eight football grounds and only four rugby stadiums is not as hubristic as
it might look.

Showcase venue: the Olympic Stadium will host matches during the 2015 Rugby World CupPhoto: PA

Preaching to the converted is not an option for a minority sport on the rise, however much we might like 2015 to be all about the heartland.

The hard balance to strike is retaining the unique rugby flavour while using all the resources at the country’s disposal.

Put it this way: no other rugby-playing nation could offer the sport a chance to shout “roll up, roll up” at Twickenham, Wembley, the Olympic Stadium, the Millennium in Cardiff,Manchester City's Etihad Stadium and Sandy Park, Exeter (capacity 12,300), where traditionalists might want to pitch their tent.

There is a danger that all major sporting events in Britain will be viewed through the lens of the 2012 London Olympics, with its giddy mass participation and volunteerism.

This Rugby World Cup aims to take the best from that supreme summer while spreading the word about the game. Ticket sales will determine the outcome, but from this distance it looks a perfectly honourable intention.

Barcelona: the end? Not if all the wisdom and energy that went into creating the tiki-taka craze is now redirected to achieve a better balance between ball-retention, defending, physical strength and the reliance on Lionel Messi.

Sadness at Barcelona’s 7-0 aggregate Champions League defeat was tempered by the realisation that all great movements in football eventually meet their counter-force.

Inter Milan and Chelsea had both found ways to stop the Catalan carousel before Bayern Munich smashed it into splinters. The principles remain sound but the application became too extreme. Maybe the adjustment should have come earlier. But it will come.